Infamous 2 - early thoughts

[THE (jb) CAPE]

So I think that i am about 1/3 of the way through the game so far and i gotta say the game itself is gorgeous. I give the PS3 alot of flak about the network and some of the weird foreign crap it still spits out but when they get something right they knock it out of the park.

 

The Beginning of the game puts you against the guy Im assuming you face at the end "The Beast" and it is quite the epic opener! Left in the aftermath is the destruction of Empire City (New York) and the loss of Cole's powers aquired in the first game (the big hitting ones anyway). Cole, his buddy Zeke (douche) and his new compatriot Quo are forced to flee to New Maris (New Orleans) to seek out the help of a guy (name escapes me at the moment) to help Cole become more powerful so that he may face the beast!

 

Cole now weilds the arc, his new melee weapon that conducts electricity and allows him to hand out shocking beatdowns.  The leveling up or powering up system seems to remain the same as the last game, powers are purchased and upgraded as time goes on. The price is never an issue though. It never seems like the most recently unclocked power is out of reach for your credits. The big new element is the user created missions. Marked on your map by a green waypoint. These things are hit or miss but the addition of this feature to this game is going to change open world action games from here on out in my opinion. The addition to games like , mercenaries, grand theft auto or just cause (to name a few) would add tons of replay value to those games. I hope to see those developers pick up this idea. Dont worry if you get stuck in a stinker of a User created mission you can quit without penalty.

 

The last thing i can think of to mention at this point is the story progression uses the comic pages and cutscenes now to lay out the plot. It gives it a more cinematic feeling than the last game.

 

Other than that if you liked the last game You will like this one as well! its a blast!

 

Pros- Platforming feels like its better improved over the last game. Visuals are stunning, bright, and in your face! user created missions are a nice addition to the game!

Cons- Game feels slightly more difficult than the last game might take more strategy on your part. The story does not feel as deep in this game as the last one but then again im still not done so it could get going faster soon! New Maris feeels like a reskinned Empire City, it does not take away from the game but at the same time I dont often feel like im in a new setting.

 

Early Rating - 8.5 JB's out of 10

[LudaToke]

I think the user created content will make it more of an open world with something to do once you finish the game.  In the first game the open world was just that with nothing to do or fight.

[THE (jb) CAPE]

Some of them are very cool, others are really bad. But it's to be expected I suppose. It's good you can bail on the shitty ones.

[LudaToke]

I tried out a few of the user generated missions and its a neat feature.

[THE (jb) CAPE]

Yeah it is more of the same, however I do hear depending on what path you take your powers change later on. I'm still not even halfwaythrough myself.

[LudaToke]

I played the first few hours of this last night and so far so good.  If you plan on playing this don't expect anything revolutionary from the first.  Its very much the same game with improvements but I'm OK with that.

[LudaToke]

I just got my Hero edition in the mail today.  I found it on amazon for the same price and i'm a sucker for special editions packaged with toys.  I will be giving it a try this weekend.